


The Silver Owl

by AnnieMirai



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Age Difference, Azkaban, Bullying, Childhood Trauma, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Death Eaters, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professors, Drama, Enemies, Eventual Romance, F/M, Family Drama, Female Antagonist, Female Protagonist, First Love, Gryffindor, Gryffindor Common Room, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Chamber of Secrets, Hogwarts House Sorting Ceremony, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff Common Room, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Female Character, Legilimency, Legilimens, Love, Love Confessions, Magic, Mystery, Out of Character i guess, Please Don't Kill Me, Plot Twists, Polyjuice Potion, Post-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Post-Hogwarts, Potions, Potions Class (Harry Potter), Psychological, Psychological Drama, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw Pride, Romance, Slytherin, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Spells & Enchantments, Teacher-Student Relationship, The Sorting Hat, Unrequited Love, Witches, Wizards, black magic, first time writing tags okay, fortune
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 16:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16021601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieMirai/pseuds/AnnieMirai
Summary: Cadence James is a very strange young witch - since she was little, she could summon a Patronus without a wand that stays with her without disappearing.  How come most of the wizard world knows her Patronus? And not only that, but how come they know her? And why does she have an almost identical wand to the Boy who lived and won? Her friends at Hogwarts will help her understand, as well as the dreaded Potions Master Severus Snape.





	1. The Wand

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Stříbrná sova [Harry Potter]](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/418259) by AnnieMirai. 



> This is a translation of my original work on wattpad from czech to english, made by my dear friend Efox Birdie. Translated version is also posted on wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/story/159528991-the-silver-owl-harry-potter-eng). By the way - check my friend's wp too: https://www.wattpad.com/user/efoxbirdie  
> Just thanks to her I can share my story with you and I hope you'll like it, just like readers in cz.  
> Also please don't kill me. This is like first time I'm posting something on AO3 and I'm actually super nervous (mostly because of the tags thou).  
> And now just enjoy ^^

Cadence James was unordinary since she was a little girl. Already as a baby, she formed silver streams of energy around her, which became her first friends. They whispered strange tales of witches and wizards, wands and Quidditch, but mainly of Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little Cadence loved these stories and begged to be told more whenever she heard her parents fight. Rather than listen, she’d pay attention to her silver companions.

But she was suspicious that something was wrong because her father disliked it all. He’d begin to shout at her mother Serena and Cadence, who’d run to her room and call her friends. Then came the time when she’d start going to school, like any other girl. No one could understand her when she talked with her scintillating friends, and soon rumours began to spread – everyone soon talked about her as if she were cursed. Cadence therefore learnt to keep distant and cold around them, but that didn’t work. Soon she found that all of her personality became distant and cold. For her young age, she was uncomfortably serious. Always, she’d walk around in silence and never talk with anyone. The only ones to keep her company were the silver friends.

One summer day, Cadence was sitting at the table, drawing a scintillating owl into her pad. The owl, resting on top of her shoulder, praised her after seeing the girl’s artwork. However, someone knocked on the door and she let her friend disappear.

‘Come in,’ she called coldly, paying more attention to highlighting the shadows of her owl friend’s feathers in the sketch.

‘This arrived for you,’ her mother stated, handed over a strangely old letter, and left the room. Cadence regarded the envelope in confusion when on her shoulder appeared Bubo – her scintillating owl.

‘It’s the letter from Hogwarts!’ the owl called happily and in excitement fluttered his wings.

‘The school you told me about?’ Cadence asked in her normal voice, one that belongs to an eleven-year-old girl. The owl nodded and with a smile, she opened the envelope.

‘I’ve been accepted, Bubo! I’m a witch!’ she exclaimed and began dancing around the room while Bubo flew around her and hooted. Cadence was overjoyed that she finally had some place to belong. At home, she didn’t feel like herself and no one understood her in school, but at Hogwarts… maybe someone would understand her there.

The day arrived when she was meant to go to Diagon Alley, as Bubo explained to her, and together, they went. She called for Bubo in The Leaky Cauldron and noticed that several people stared at her in surprise. Cadence coldly pretended to ignore them and with Bubo’s navigation, she walked over to the brick wall.

‘Oh, darling, are you here by yourself?’ a woman dressed in a robe and black hat asked. She looked like a real witch. Then she noticed the silver-blue owl sitting on Cadence’s shoulder, and Cadence saw how her eyes glimmered. ‘Come with me, darling, you’re going the wrong way,’ the witch said in an overly sweet tone, and placed her hand on Cadence’s other shoulder. Both Cadence and Bubo disliked this immediately. The girl tried to protest, but the witch held her too tightly to manage an escape.

‘I don’t want to! I know that I have to go here!’ Cadence argued when she noticed the witch taking out her wand.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ a cold baritone voice appeared behind Cadence. She turned around and saw a man, dressed fully in black clothes and robe, with likewise black hair and a pale, sallow face. In his right hand, he held a wand, pointed at the witch that was about to take Cadence away, and in his left, he had several books.

‘Severus Snape!’ the witch exclaimed and finally let go of Cadence, who immediately jumped away from her. Bubo flew around the girl and with his massive wings scared the witch, who ran off without another word. As he landed back on Cadence’s shoulder, she turned around to thank her rescuer. 

‘Thank you, sir,’ she said in a distant tone and immediately regretted it. She didn’t want to talk to her saviour this way but it was too habitual. The man barely registered it, his eyes moving back and forth between the black-haired girl and her scintillating owl.

‘I gather you’re Cadence James,’ he said assuredly, surprising Cadence.

‘How do you know my name?’ she asked and regarded him suspiciously. Maybe he also wanted to kidnap her, just like the witch.

‘Everyone knows your Patronus in the wizarding world,’ he claimed calmly, coldly.

‘My what?’ she did not understand the word until the man nodded in the direction of her owl. 

‘That owl is your Patronus.’ Cadence looked to Bubo, who only flapped his wings.

‘It was too soon to talk about it,’ Bubo said, but more so to the man than to Cadence. She was frustrated by the vagueness, but he gently pecked her on the cheek and immediately, she forgave him.

‘I presume you’re shopping?’ Cadence only nodded. If Bubo wasn’t chasing the man away, she believed he had no ill intent.

Without another word, the man walked over to the wall and tapped several bricks with his wand. They began to move away, almost dancing as they cleared the way to reveal a winding street. Cadence felt a wave of joy rush through her in anticipation of her upcoming shop – robes, books, quills, parchment, ink, cauldrons, herbs and other ingredients, but most importantly – a wand. That excited Cadence the most.

The second she entered Diagon Alley with the mysterious man, the conversations, loud across the street, quietened. Cadence ignored their stares, and with Bubo proudly on her shoulder, she made her way to the Gringotts Wizarding Bank where she had to exchange money. But the man stopped her and she turned.

‘You should stay close to me,’ he said and walked in front of her. Cadence questionably watched his back: she did not understand why she should follow him, and in secret asked her owl friend: 

‘Can I trust him?’ Bubo nodded vigorously. 

‘You can definitely trust him,’ and so Cadence was no longer afraid. If Bubo said so, everything would be fine. 

It was as if the man knew where Cadence had to go – first, they visited Gringotts, where she almost exclaimed because she did not expect to see goblins. They exchanged her pounds for galleons without an issue, and they could begin their shopping. The man accompanied her to all the shops, until they finally reached Ollivanders.

‘Professor Snape and… Cadence James?’ exclaimed in shock a man that looked at least a hundred years old. Cadence was surprised the shopkeeper knew her, but then remember what the man had said – everyone knew her Patronus. She decided that she’d confer with Bubo later. Now she wanted to get to the wand as quickly as possible.

‘Obviously, Mr Ollivander,’ the man beside Cadence said, who immediately felt a slightly tingle of fear across her body. She liked his voice, but it also created a feeling of dread, which could have been its purpose. ‘May we proceed to the wands?’ he urged on the shopkeeper who kept staring at Cadence’s Patronus. The words forced him to focus, and to make sure he’s awake, he shook his head.

‘Oh, of course, the wand,’ and immediately transferred to the countless narrow boxes piled up all the way to the ceiling, in one of which lied Cadence’s future wand.

‘Yew wood… no, too weak… And what about pine with the core of a… no, not at all! Oh! Now I know!’ Cadence focused and Bubo shivered in anticipation on her shoulder. Mr Ollivander dusted up a box hidden near the ceiling, but the closer he walked to Cadence, the slower his pace, as he stared at the narrow box with its wand.

‘Mr Ollivander, we’re not going to dally here the whole day,’ the man spoke with his icy tone, but Mr Ollivander kept staring until he finally pulled it from the box and passed it to Cadence, almost as if in slow-motion.

‘Holly wood, the core a feather from a phoenix, 11 inches long.’ Cadence noticed that even the man next to her seemed somewhat stricken, which she did not understand. Hopefully, Bubo could answer this later as well.

It only took a touch to feel an immense strength within her, and it was so… good. As if she were capable of anything! And she could – she was a witch!

‘Almost exactly identical to the wand of Harry Potter,’ Ollivander whispered in shock and Cadence immediately focused in on him. 

‘ _The boy who lived and won_?’ She watched them back and forth as both stared at her.

‘You know of whom we speak?’ the man next to her asked with his unusual voice. Cadence glanced at him and her green eyes met with his black.

‘Bubo told me about him. Apparently, two years ago, he defeated Voldemort.’ Mr Ollivander jerked at the sound of the villainous name; the man beside her stayed calm, as if he were used to it.

‘It is so,’ Ollivander nodded and his gaze returned to the wand. ‘Similarly to you, he possesses a wand from holly wood, core of a phoenix. But the feather in your wand comes from another, I’d say mythical. This wand was created by my great, great grandfather, which is saying something.’ The shopkeeper’s eyes turned back to the girl and the man. ‘You’re a very talented young witch, Ms James.’

With a good, even happy, feeling, Cadence left Diagon Alley. She truly did not want to return home. The man that had accompanied her the whole day stopped her as he closed the entrance to the street.

‘You cannot use the wand yet, or you break the law set for underage wizardry. As for your Patronus,’ he looked importantly at the owl sitting on top of her shoulder. ‘It would be for the best to make him disappear for now.’ Cadence immediately rejected the idea and began to protest: ‘No! I’ll not let Bubo disappear!’ The man saw her resolution in those green eyes, so reminiscent of those he had loved.

‘It will be your issue if they summon you for a hearing at the Ministry of Magic, Ms James. I do however hope your Patronus will thus provide company at King’s Cross on the 1st September.’ He only nodded to say goodbye and prepared to leave. Cadence stopped him by catching hold of his robe.

‘Who are you?’ she finally managed to ask after the long day.

‘You ask as if you haven’t heard my name once the entire day,’ he noted in irritation. Cadence felt annoyed, half-expecting the man to not answer, but finally he turned to face her and introduced himself: ‘I am Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House.’ He nodded once more and disappeared into The Leaky Cauldron.

‘I can’t even tell if I like him or not,’ Cadence noted and stared at the door, behind which her future professor disappeared.

‘You’ll have plenty of time to figure it out,’ Bubo hooted and flapped his wings. It was time to go home.


	2. The Hogwarts Express

Cadence spent the rest of the holiday reading the newly-bought books with Bubo. Though she often wished to try a spell, she remembered the words of the Potions Master about the law set for underage wizardry. 

‘Bubo, can you please tell me why everyone knows and looks at me so strangely when you were sitting on my shoulder?’ It was just one more day before her departure for the school of witchcraft and wizardry at Hogwarts and Cadence could not fall asleep – she had so many questions needing answers!

‘You know, normally little witches like you cannot summon a Patronus, and even those who can are unable to keep it summoned for long. Patronus is a sort of materialisation of happy memories, and wizards usually summon them when they have to fight off Dementors, or to quickly send a message. That’s the reason people stared. And also – everyone knows you because you’re simultaneously a sort of “messenger”. Remember how I told you that in the wizarding world, owls are used for mail?’ Bubo asked and Cadence nodded. ‘Well, I am also a special type of messenger. With my appearance, I bring good news for both nation and individual. It is the first time that I have an owner,’ he pecked his black-haired friend into her cheek and she giggled.

‘But why did you choose me?’ However, Bubo shook his head in his owl way.

‘I did not choose you. You chose me. You see, a Patronus carries the personality of the person. In your own way, you are wise and I believe you’ll have no problem with your studies. Furthermore, you are mysterious, which can be positive or negative, but I will not bother you anymore.’ Bubo had noticed how his owner’s eyes were closing with fatigue. With his beak, he moved some strands of hair from her face, wished her a good night, and disappeared to spread good news.

In the morning, Cadence woke up quite early and immediately, her owl companion appeared.

‘Good morning!’ she said to him and he flapped his wings in response. ‘I’m finally going to Hogwarts! God, I’m so excited!’ she sang happily and decided to wear something similar to a school uniform.

‘You’ll be changing into your robe in the train, so for now, wear something comfortable,’ Bubo advised her and watched as the girl packed the last few things into her luggage. Her parents weren’t accompanying her. In some way they were no longer interested in her. It seemed as if they couldn’t care less that their eleven-year-old daughter was travelling to London, much less some school of witchcraft and wizardry. Oh, her parents probably didn’t even know that she can do magic!

They watched Cadence strangely when they saw her luggage. She let Bubo disappear as there was danger muggles could see him. She had it tested, back from school. They used to say she’s a witch (which turned out to be true) or that she’s cursed with a ‘silver owl’ so whenever she travelled around town, she knew to hide him. He wasn’t fully invisible, often he disappeared, but Cadence knew he was always with her. She had a good feeling about the journey but kept her expressions cold and distant. It was simply a habit.

After a long ride, she finally arrived at King’s Cross, but had to find the platform 9 ¾. Unfortunately, Bubo didn’t tell her how to get there and she began to worry that she’d never get on the train to Hogwarts.

‘Cadence James!’ someone called her name and Cadence looked around in the crowd until a young woman appeared. She looked like a student – she was one, carrying similar amounts of luggage. 

The eager seventh-year held out her hand to Cadence and introduced herself: ‘I’m Iris Rowen, seventh year from Ravenclaw College. You’re Cadence, right?’ she eyed her, but the smile remained on her lips. Cadence only nodded, her expression unreadable, but Iris evidently didn’t care. ‘Professor Snape asked me to look after you,’ she said and Cadence remembered the man dressed all in black that had helped her shop in Diagon Alley.

‘Thank you but I don’t understand why–’ Cadence stared but Iris interrupted her.

‘I’m sorry to interrupt you but I suggest we move our conversation to the train, okay?’ Cadence didn’t know how to feel. Yes, Iris seemed lovely, but what if she was like the witch in Diagon Alley that tried to kidnap her? She nodded lightly, still eyeing the beautiful brown-haired girl up and down. ‘Don’t worry, really, I won’t do anything,’ Iris reassured her and cocked her head to the side, her smile never faltering. And so Cadence decided to trust her and followed.

Thanks to Iris, Cadence learnt that for witches and wizards to get to platform 9 ¾, they must cross a barrier by walking through the brick wall in the middle of platform 9 and 10. Immediately after this barrier the difference was enormous – from the train rose steam, owls could be heard hooting everywhere, same as meowing cats, parents telling children not to use magic outside of school grounds, to be careful, to get into the Quidditch team and more.

After crossing the border between the worlds, the scintillating owl appeared on Cadence’s shoulder. Straight away, people turned and stared at the owl, then at Cadence. She heard how they began to whisper, saying her name, pronouncing the form of her Patronus, and just gossiping about her. She also didn’t notice many things, and didn’t want to notice many more. Iris noticed her dark expression and lead her into a free space on the train.

‘Why did Professor Snape send you after me?’ Cadence asked in confusion and sat by the window, gazing at all the parents saying goodbyes to their children. For a moment, she felt hurt that her parents weren’t there, but she repressed the feeling. Her parents will never be interested. She felt horribly alone because of this and turned her attention to Iris.

‘Well, he didn’t exactly send me. He only mentioned you after he met with the Head of my college. It was him that then sent me a letter to pick you up at King’s Cross. I’m the prefect of my college.’ Cadence was frustrated that Iris had lied, but Bubo whispered that there was a reason.

‘What was your reason for lying?’ she asked coldly and watched as the girl stared at her shoes.

‘I’m not sure if you know but your Patronus–’

‘Bubo has already told me, please get to the important bit,’ Cadenc stated impatiently, causing Iris to pause for a second before continuing: ‘Well, then, because of the fact that your Patronus is the Silver Owl, who brings good fortunes, you, as his owner, are being called _Fortune’s Child_. That’s what the people call you.’

‘How did they find out about me?’ Cadence asked unknowingly while looking at Bubo. 

‘Since the moment your Patronus formed, the entire wizardry world began to see the Silver Owl more and more often. Even I was lucky enough to see your Patronus,’ Iris smiled happily and Bubo slightly nodded. ‘He appeared to help me find my wand in fifth year. Since the moment he sat on it, it became better at casting spells. As I said – the Silver Owl is the messenger of good fortune and after he helped me find my wand, with it I managed to save some of my mortally wounded friends during the Battle of Hogwarts. I don’t know if you heard of it.’ Cadence nodded and Iris thus continued: ‘And it was such a good fortune – my friends could live,’ and smiled in joy while Bubo nodded again. ‘Everyone can interpret good fortune differently but everyone knows that if the Silver Owl appears, something good will happen. But now back to you,’ Iris had already breathed in to continue but then the door to their compartment opened and a brown-haired man in a robe entered.

‘Professor! What are you doing here?’ The man’s eyes moved from Iris to Cadence to Bubo and back again. 

‘Hello, Iris,’ he said to the girl and turned to Cadence. ‘And you must be Cadence, yes?’ Cadence nodded and eyed the professor again, who openly smiled at her and reached out with his hand to say hello. ‘I’m Neville Longbottom, Professor of Herbology and Head of Gryffindor College,’ he introduced himself and looked at Iris. ‘Is everyone all right?’ he asked and both the girls nodded, one more surprised than the other. The professor nodded uncertainly and, telling them that he must check the other compartments, left.

‘That’s strange, normally professors don’t travel with us,’ Iris noted and shrugged. She looked at Bubo questioningly, who hooted the answer to the unsaid question to Cadence: ‘Everyone wants you in their college, you must understand. It’s very important for Hogwarts.’ Iris watched the conversation and when she felt it was over, she asked Cadence: ‘What did he say?’ Cadence was surprised, because she thought that Iris understood.

‘He was just telling me about how the professor was lovely,’ Cadence lied and gazed out the window. The train was slowly departing from the station towards Hogwarts. Iris watched the changing view behind the window with her for a while, and as she decided to continue the conversation, the door to the compartment opened and two boys walked inside. One of them was laughing, his cheeks red, his caramel-coloured hair slightly messy, and Cadence noticed, how he was already wearing a robe with a lion on a red-gold backdrop.

‘Can we sit here?’ he asked, but was already sitting down next to Cadence, shaking her hand. ‘I’m Michael Rackle, Gryffindor, second year.’ Cadence felt her cheeks turn pink because she found the boy very sympathetic. But then Michael and the other boy noticed Bubo and their eyes just about fell out of their sockets.

‘Wow!’ the other said and slid down to the seat next to Iris, who was almost dying of laughter.

‘Boys, I think you’re making Cadence nervous,’ she told them while giggling, and the boys finally recovered.

‘By Merlin’s beard, sorry, we didn’t want to–’ the boy with well-styled hair of a brown shade began to apologise.

‘It’s fine,’ Cadence interrupted the apology, but she was still feeling a bit uncomfortable. Bubo felt it and moved to her lap where she could pet him and calm herself down.

‘Ehm, I’m Gabriel. Gabriel Stepford, also second year, Hufflepuff,’ she shook Cadence’s hand and she concluded that it was time to introduce herself.

‘Cadence James, it’s nice to meet you,’ she nodded while playing with Bubo’s silver feathers.

‘So you’re _Fortune’s Child_?’ Michael asked in excitement and Cadence felt the need to move closer to the window.

‘Logically, Michael, she’s currently petting the Silver Owl,’ Gabriel noted and rolled his eyes, as if it wasn’t logical even like this. Iris touched Cadence’s knee while the boys discussed how to recognise the owner of the Silver Owl.

‘As the prefect, I have to visit the other compartments but before I go, let me tell you that I won’t hide the reason why I’m here, and why Michael and Gabriel are here. The Head of the colleges want to get you into their college because they believe you’ll bring them fortune,’ she whispered to her so that Michael and Gabriel wouldn’t hear. Cadence was happy that she had told her.

‘Thank you, Iris,’ Cadence thanked her and Iris smiled lovingly. 

‘Okay, guys, I’m leaving you so don’t do anything stupid,’ Iris stated and left the compartment.

‘If someone from Slytherin showed up, we’d have all four colleges here. That is, if Iris stayed,’ Gabriel noted and Cadence realised that she could learn some details from them.

‘What families are you from? I mean, are you pure blood, or more like mixed?’ she asked in interest and Bubo flew back onto her shoulder after flying round the compartment a few times. The boys watched him in wonder but then glanced at each other before turning back to her.

‘I’m pureblood, like Iris. Gabriel’s mother is a witch. And you are…?’ Michael didn’t finish on purpose so that Cadence could fill in the gap herself.

‘I’m muggle born.’ The boys looked confused and then began asking various questions about her Patronus and more. Cadence enjoyed her time with them, though occasionally she was probably a bit unpleasant, it was as if the boys didn’t notice and continued the conversation pleasantly. Cadence felt a rush of joy flow through her – finally, she had friends!


	3. The Sorting Hat

The Hogwarts Express was slowly approaching the end of its journey. Cadence had already changed into her new robes and was pleased with the way she looked. With her wand and Bubo on her shoulder she looked like a true witch! The only things missing were a pointy hat and a broom, but she knew that she could buy the broom only in the next year. She couldn’t imagine that flying on a broomstick would be particularly hard.

‘The House Cup is by far one of the best things in school! And that’s without mentioning Quidditch!’ Gabriel hollered when the conversation shifted to this interesting type of sport.

‘Ooh, Gabriel, don’t tell me you want to get into the Quidditch team? Michael held him to his word.

‘And why not? I think I’m made for it.’ Cadence eyed him up and down again and… well, she didn’t think it’d be good for Gabriel to try. She tried to think of a nice way to say it but ended up with: ‘You’re not a sport type, Gabriel, don’t try it.’ Immediately, she bit herself in the tongue and stared down on the ground guiltily. If only she could manage to apologise somehow…

‘Cadence is right.’ The girl looked in surprise at Michael, who supported her statement. She was astonished by it, but grateful and in her heart, she felt something warm. ‘Honestly, Gabriel, you’re the calm collected type, like a true Hufflepuff.’ Though Gabriel got angry at first, it didn’t take long before he agreed with Michael and Cadence that it’d be best if he didn’t try.

The doors to their compartment opened and in them stood a laughing Iris.

‘Kids, we’re here, so hurry on out!’ she urged them on and disappeared off to another compartment.

‘I’m really looking forward to seeing the sorting ceremony! It was probably the best thing on the first day here!’ Gabriel stated excitedly as he prepared to leave the compartment. ‘That reminds me – where do you want to be sorted to, Cadence?’ Truth be told, Cadence had expected this question since the start of the conversation, and yet she still didn’t know how to answer. She liked Iris from Ravenclaw, Gabriel from Hufflepuff, Michael from Gryffindor and… professor Snape from Slytherin. But where she wanted to belong, she really didn’t know and so she just shrugged her shoulders in response.

‘I don’t know, it’ll be a surprise,’ it sounded rude, but hurriedly she apologised with a timid look towards the boys, who only smiled at her.

Outside, they had to separate, because first years travelled by boats. Cadence realised that she doesn’t know anyone from first years, but for now, she didn’t want to make friends with any of them because she behaved too coldly, but not just that – she didn’t know where she would be sorted to. So for now, she enjoyed the boat ride and with as much surprise as the other children, she watched the beautiful castle on the cliff. She tried to ignore the stares that other first years gave her because of Bubo. She felt a bit embarrassed, but the presence of her Patronus calmed her down.

‘Hi,’ a girl with short brown thick hair and a scarf around her neck said to her. When Cadence looked at her, she realised that the girl is really cute – her eyes were large, hazel-coloured, and stars gently reflected in them.

‘Hi,’ Cadence replied and tried to smile nicely, and the girl smiled back.

‘You have a beautiful friend,’ the girl nodded in Bubo’s direction, who focused on her, slightly on the edge. Cadence noticed by him shifting on her shoulder.

‘Thanks, his name is Bubo,’ Cadence confessed the name of her Patronus and the girl frowned.

‘Why are you giving a name to the Silver Owl? That doesn’t make sense, right?’ This time Cadence frowned in confusion.

‘Bubo doesn’t disappear, he’s always with me.’ The girl wasn’t satisfied with the answer, but she turned her attention back to the castle and Cadence heard how she snorted in ridicule.

‘Don’t pay attention to her,’ Bubo told her and Cadence listened happily, ignoring the girl for the rest of the journey. On the shore, an enormous key-holder brought them to the gate, where one of the professors was waiting, introducing herself as Pomona Sprout, Professor of Transformation, Head of Hufflepuff college and Deputy Director. The girl, whom Cadence talked with on the boat, snorted again, which slowly began to frustrate Cadence. When they started their approach to the castle, Cadence walked more towards the back of the group to avoid the girl and her snorting.

The group of first years with Professor Sprout at the front entered the castle and immediately turned left. The large doors opened and the group was welcomed by four huge tables, each belonging to one college, and one at the front on this small podium. Opposite of the entrance, right in the middle of the table, sat an older witch with a serious expression. But as soon as she saw the children who were to be sorted into their respective colleges, she smiled and welcomed them warmly. Then she frowned as her eyes fell on Cadence. Well, everyone looked at her, only three people from three different tables waving her way. Thanks to Michael, Gabriel, and Iris, Cadence felt more secure and by the way the group had walked to the podium, she was fully ignoring the stares.

Professor Sprout brought out a stool from somewhere with an old hat, and Bubo explained to her that this is the Sorting Hat, which sorts children in their first year to their colleges. The hat on the chair suddenly came to life and began to sing about the unification of colleges, about their four founders – wise Rowena Ravenclaw, brave Godric Gryffindor, kind Helga Hufflepuff, and cunning Salazar Slytherin. Then the hat quietened down and Professor Sprout took out a scroll with the names of the students, and grabbed the hat from the stool.

‘Amaret, René,’ was the first name and a small boy went forward to sit on the stool while the Professor placed the hat on his head. The hat thought for a while as he mumbled something, before he called out: ‘Slytherin!’ and cheers and applause started from the Slytherin table. As soon as the boy sat down, the older students patted his back and René looked incredibly happy.

‘Asir, Claudia,’ called Professor Sprout another name, and that continued on and on until the name _Euno, Celeste_ was called and the brown-haired girl from the boat ran up to the podium. The second the Professor put the Sorting Hat on her head, he called: ‘Slytherin!’ Cadence again began wondering which college she wants to end up in, and looked towards the Professors table. Between them, almost at the end, sat the familiar dark Potions Professor, who noticed Cadence’s curious look and lightly nodded to her. The girl smiled gently and turned her attention back to the students with a good feeling in her.

‘Just let it be a surprise,’ Bubo hooted quietly and Cadence nodded. The best solution would be to keep it a surprise.

‘James, Cadence.’ The college tables quietened down and Cadence could bet that if someone’s fork fell down in this moment, its fall would echo across the hall. The girl didn’t look to the ground, but the opposite – she calmly looked at the stool on which she sat down. In that moment, Bubo bounced off her shoulder and began to fly, circling round the college tables. Some watched him while others watched the black-haired, green-eyed girl.

Professor Sprout placed the hat on Cadence’s head and the girl stopped seeing, what is happening in the Great Hall. Then she heard the voice belonging to the Sorting Hat.

‘Hmm, this will be difficult, very difficult. I see care and worry, belonging to Hufflepuff, but similarly I see the Gryffindor bravery and devotion, and the wise and witty nature belonging to Ravenclaw, and even the secrecy and cunning of Slytherin. Where do you want to belong, girl?’ the hat asked her, and barely audible, Cadence whispered: ‘I don’t know.’

Immediately, the hat’s answer sounded: _‘Unsorted!’_ and Cadence felt like the silence of the hall was suddenly even more profound.


	4. The Answer

Cadence sat there for about three more minutes with the Sorting Hat on top of her as she felt the stares of all the students and professors. She did not dare even move, only patiently waited for Professor Sprout to take the hat off of her. When it didn’t happen, she dared speak in a quiet tone: ‘Um, can I please take the hat off?’ she turned to the professor, who took a few moments to calm down before she finally took the hat off the little girl’s head. Cadence now saw how most of the students are staring at her, at the hat, and at Bubo who landed on her shoulder and hooted happily: ‘You didn’t expect this, did you?’ Cadence stared at him in disbelief while she heard the students whisper amongst them. She heard something like _unsorted, first time,_ and _the Fortune’s child_. She felt frustrated that everyone was forming theories about this but she couldn’t help it.

With her eyes, she began searching for her friends – Michael was whispering about something serious with his friends, Gabriel didn’t know whether he should be surprised at the fact that she’s unsorted or that this happened for the first time in the history of the school, Iris on the other hand was smiling and looked incredibly excited, and when Cadence looked at Celeste, she noticed that her adorable cheeks were puffed up. She probably wanted to be the centre of attention, which clearly didn’t work out.

‘Cadence, sweetie, could you please sit with the professors for now?’ Professor Sprout asked kindly, with just a hint of surprise. Without a word, Cadence left the stool and in a collected manner with Bubo on her shoulder, went over to the table and sat on one of the free chairs that the Headmistress herself transformed for her. Cadence thanked her with a slight nod and then looked towards the Potions Master. Calmly, he was watching the continuation of the sorting ceremony, and so Cadence decided to start paying attention as well.

She counted that from the remaining children, fifteen were put into Gryffindor, seven in Ravenclaw, twenty into Hufflepuff, and ten into Slitherin. After the ceremony ended, Professor Sprout put away the stool and the hat. For the welcoming speech, Headmistress McGonagall stepped in front of the students.

‘I welcome you all the Hogwarts, the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is my great honour to welcome the future witches and wizards, whom were sorted into their houses tonight, for which they will gain house points throughout the year. At the end of the year, the house with the most points shall win the House Cup. You can gain points not only from your education, but also from your actions. This year, Quidditch will, of course, be played as well.’ From the house tables, thunderous applause and shouts sounded. The Headmistress smiled gently and the tables quietened. ‘This year, we have strengthened the staff with two new professors: Professor Ronalda Jackob, who will teach Ancient Magic Runes, and Professor Septimus Erus, who will teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. I would also like to remind students that they cannot enter the Forbidden Forest, and that they must abide the evening rules and not go out of their dorms when the corridors are monitored. But for now, the most important thing is to enjoy your meal!’ The Headmistress clapped her hands and on the tables appeared such mountains of food, the likes of which Cadence had never seen before.

As soon as Headmistress McGonagall was sure that the students are preoccupied with food, she approached Cadence.

‘Do enjoy the food here at our table, miss James. After the meal, we can discuss the situation with me and the Head of each house in my cabinet.’ Cadence felt her organs bunch up into knots of anxiety but when the Headmistress smiled at her, she felt calmer. Even when eating, she kept calm, despite the fact that she was the only student to eat between the professors.

When the Headmistress ordered the prefects to organise the new students and in groups they began to leave, three people stayed behind and went towards Cadence. Only Celeste frowned, flipped her thick hair, and disappeared into the corridors.

‘Well, I did not expect that!’ Michael said and stared in both wonder and joy at Cadence.

‘It’s the first time this has happened in the history of the school! I heard that there were some students that could belong to one house or another, but in the end, they chose one,’ Gabriel said, deep in thought.

‘The hat did give me a choice, but I didn’t know where to go,’ Cadence shrugged her shoulders and waited for them to begin trying to persuade her to join their houses.

‘I don’t think it matters, McGonagall will sort it out somehow,’ Iris said and petted Cadence’s hair. Cadence liked just how nice Iris was and probably liked her the most from the three so far. Maybe it was because of how sisterly Iris acted.

‘Miss James, please, follow me,’ the Headmistress called after her and Cadence was forced to say goodbye to her friends for now, to follow the Headmistress and four professors with Bubo resting on her shoulder. One of the four was Professor Snape. Cadence kept up the pace with him, she wanted to thank him for the day in Diagon Alley again, and for the useful advice he had given her.

‘They didn’t send me for a hearing in the end,’ she said in the end and punished herself for those words in her mind. Snape glanced at her, one of his eyebrows raised.

‘I see that, however now you are unsorted and I believe that should take precedence.’ Cadence bowed her head, not knowing what else to say, or even what to feel. On the one hand, she felt bad about not being able to choose but on the other, she immediately understand she is genuinely unique. Almost like _the Boy who Lived and Won_. And in some way, that made her happy.

The Headmistress stopped in front of the gargoyle and says the password. The gargoyle jumped to the side and Cadence’s eyes almost popped out. She didn’t expect anything like this, though considering the place, she should expect everything to be unexpected. 

They entered the spacious cabinet of the Headmistress’ office, who immediately brought out three more chairs with magic, and herself sat at the head of the table. Cadence meanwhile looked around the large space, watching the moving portraits of sleeping past headmasters until she noticed that the adults had all sat down and now were waiting for her do the same. When she did, McGonagall turned to the Sorting Hat, who was already (surprisingly enough) already on the top shelf on the Headmistress’ right side.

‘Sorting hat, why haven’t you sort Cadence James into any of the houses?’ The hat glanced with its provisional black eyes at the girl.

‘I could not sort her anywhere for she belongs everywhere. She possesses qualities of all the houses and when I offered her the choice, she did not take it.’ Now everyone turned to Cadence, who was calmly sitting in the overly large chair with Bubo on her shoulder.

‘All right, thank you, Sorting hat. Of course, there remains the issue of what we shall do with you, miss James?’ McGonagall asked, but her gaze was pointed towards the Heads of the Houses.

‘She should be in our house,’ said a petite teacher, who was most likely the Head of Ravenclaw. ‘With us, she can develop her natural intelligence and wit!’ he stated, but immediately, Professor Sprout counter-argued: ‘But she has the Silver Owl as her Patronus, that already symbolises her intelligence. I think that the girl should focus on hard work and patience, which we support in our house.’ Gryffidor’s Head of House Neville Longbottom took over then, whom Cadence remembered from the train: ‘I would agree with you Pomona, but I believe Gryffindor would be best suited for her.’ The Head of Slytherin said nothing and only watched this theatre with mild amusement. Cadence started thinking that he didn’t even want her in his house.

‘Professors, please, keep it civil,’ the Headmistress calmed them down and the professors fell silent. ‘Severus, nothing from you?’ she turned to the dark professor and Cadence felt visibly on edge. Bubo reassured her with a gentle peck.

‘Miss James should decide on her own which college she wishes to be in,’ the Potions Master shrugged his shoulders and continued to watch the tragicomedy that again sprung up between the professors. Meanwhile, Bubo whispered something to Cadence and flew off round the cabinet, bringing the professors’ focus on himself. Then he sat back down on Cadence’s shoulder, who said: ‘Bubo suggested this – I spend one week at each college, but the points I’ll gain won’t count towards the House Cup,’ and then in turn regarded each of the professors until her eyes rested on the Headmistress. She thoughtfully leaned back in her chair.

‘All right, but in the four weeks, you must choose your house, miss James.’ Cadence nodded to show her understanding. 

‘First you will go to Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and lastly Slytherin,’ McGonagall planned it out and Cadence nodded again.

‘All right, then, Pomona.’ The Head of Hufflepuff looked at McGonagall. ‘Please take miss James to your house.’ Professor Sprout stood up with a smile and asked Cadence to follow her to her house. In her mind, Cadence softly sighed.

‘This will be a crazy four weeks,’ she whispered to Bubo, who was evidently entertained.


	5. Hufflepuff

All of the students have been long led away to the houses and Hufflepuff was no different. Professor Sprout was just leading little Cadence across the castle to the ground corridor, where Hufflepuff house was situated.

‘You’re going to like our house, Cadence. I’m sure that you’ll find lots of friends here,’ the girl wasn’t paying much attention, as she regarded it as a sort of “advertisement” from Professor Sprout. Why should she listen to other opinions, especially based ones, when she could make her own throughout the week?

Cadence was glad to at least know Gabriel in Hufflepuff, but she also knew that firstly he was a boy, and secondly he was in his second year, so she wouldn’t spend too much time with him. It was a good occasion to meet with someone, which Cadence very much wanted to do. Maybe it would be potential new friends that would help her pick a house.

When Professor Sprout opened the painting through a password into the common area of Hufflepuff, immediately everyone turned their attention to the little girl with the owl on her shoulder.

‘Cadence will be staying at our house for this week so I hope that everyone will take care of her well,’ the professor told her students, but everyone nonetheless hesitated slightly as they approached Cadence.

‘I’m Britney.’ ‘I’m Jennifer. ‘And I’m Kvartus.’

Cadence had no time to remember the names that both girls and boys threw in her direction until Gabriel showed up, forcing his way through the crowd.

‘Gabriel,’ Cadence wanted to sound excited but somehow it went wrong and so several students glanced at her warily. She immediately felt uncomfortable. They probably value their friendships here a lot and she was acting as if nothing mattered, though it did. 

Professor Sprout had just left the common room after wishing everyone a good night, and everyone went their own ways, except for Gabriel.

‘I hope that you’ll like our house,’ Gabriel stated before noticing her upset expression. ‘Don’t worry about the others, they’re just not used for someone like you to be in Hufflepuff.’ Cadence thankfully smiled at her friend and noticed that he turned slightly nervous. ‘Well, um, it’s late, we should go to sleep,’ he said and went to a door that most likely led to the boys’ dorm rooms. Before he walked in, he pointed at the door opposite those he stood by. ‘The girls’ dorms are there. Go straight to the first door, the girls from first year are there. I think your belongings will be there already. So, um, goodnight,’ and before she managed to answer, he had left.

‘You’ll be fine,’ Bubo led her on and Cadence was glad to have him. Without his support, she probably wouldn’t manage.

She turned where Gabriel sent her and in front of the doors to the bedroom, she paused and inhaled deeply.

‘It’ll be fine,’ she told herself and Bubo nodded with his fluffy head. Cadence confidently opened the door and immediately was met with five pairs of eyes staring.

‘Hi,’ she said and moved to the free bed, beside which laid her belongings.

‘Hi,’ each of the girls said shyly. Three of them immediately started giggling, followed by the other two, and Cadence again felt like some unneeded side character. In these moments, her cold demeanour appeared even more, so at this point, she was probably an ice queen. 

Cadence changed into her pyjamas and pulled the curtains to her bed. Hidden from the other girls, she pulled out her wand and then nodded at Bubo, who had sat down next to her. Bubo nodded back, Cadence drew a knot into the air and mumbled the incantation of the quietening spell. 

‘Hoot, please,’ she asked Bubo, who did so, but none of the girls seemed to react in any way. ‘It works!’ Cadence exclaimed joyfully and smiled at her own companion.

‘You’re a clever little witch,’ Bubo praised her and fluttered his wings. It looked like he was smiling. 

Cadence laid down on the pillow so that she could still see Bubo, but after a moment, the smile disappeared from her face.

‘It will be fine, you’ll see. The studies, at least. And if Hufflepuff isn’t for you, then you’ll go to Ravenclaw next week.’ Cadence admitted that Bubo was right and smiled again. He could always support her.

For a while longer they talked about what happened, discussed the new friends and also Professor Snape, who Cadence found very sympathetic. She was looking forward to a Potions lesson. They wished one another a good night and the Silver Owl disappeared, gone to fulfil its mission.

In the morning, Cadence woke up first, ended the quieting spell around her bed, again excited about the fact that she could do it, and then whisper-called Bubo, who pecked her gently on the cheek as a hello.

‘Good morning, young witch. Soon it’ll be your first day of school,’ Bubo stated and sat down on the bed. Cadence quietly whispered _good morning_ and began dressing into her robes so that she could then head to the bathroom. When she noticed that one of the girls was watching her, she hurried up to get to breakfast as quickly as possible.

At the professors’ table, there were already several teachers, Professor Snape among them. When Cadence saw him, she lightly smiled and nodded instead of a hello. Snape nodded back and returned his attention to his breakfast.

There was barely anyone at the Hufflepuff table, but even those who were there stared at the girl and her owl with palpable anxiety. In fact, so were some students from the other houses, too.

‘Cadence!’ she heard the familiar voice of the brown-haired girl from Ravenclaw. Iris sat down next to Cadence, though she belonged to a different house, she clearly didn’t care.

‘Good morning,’ Cadence replied calmly and offered Iris the tea that she was having in the moment.

‘Oh, thank you,’ Iris took the kettle from her and began questioning her: ‘So? How was your first night? Did you find friends?’ Cadence’s gaze fell down to her cup of tea and petted Bubo that had landed on the table.

‘They probably don’t like me,’ she stated calmly and to hide the bitterness, she sipped on her tea. Iris reassuringly patted her head and with a slight smile said: ‘They should be ashamed. After all, you’re _Fortune’s Child_. They just don’t know how to talk to you. I’m sure you’ll make friends soon.’ Cadence looked at the smiling Iris and found herself smiling back.

‘T-thank you, Iris…’ she thanked shyly and Iris gave her a motherly hug.

‘No worries, I’m always here.’ Iris then had to leave Cadence because she had to attend her Prefect duties and go to her morning lesson of History of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Meanwhile, Michael and Gabriel appeared in the Great Hall, excitedly gossiping about something.

‘Good morning, Cadence!’ Michael told the girl and Cadence looked down to hide her happiness.

‘Good morning,’ Gabriel said as he sat down beside her and Bubo, whom he also told a good morning.

‘I don’t think if you’re polite to the Silver Owl, it’ll bring you luck,’ a familiar girl voice said and Cadence glanced at Celeste, who brightly smiled at her. ‘Aren’t I right, Cadence?’ she asked, as if she already knew that she was correct. Cadence only shrugged her shoulders and turned to her tea.

‘It doesn’t matter to me, Bubo is my Patronus,’ Celeste’s smile disappeared and she walked off with several girls and boys to the Slytherin table.

‘Ugh, I don’t like that girl,’ Michael shook himself as if he was suddenly cold.

‘Celeste Euna,’ Cadence said, pretending to be calm, finished her tea and immediately stood up, Bubo obediently on her shoulder. ‘I’m gonna go now, I want to arrive a bit early to the lesson.’ Her first lesson was Transfiguration with Gryffindor and she wanted to arrive early. Gabriel and Michael said their goodbyes and Cadence felt a uncomfortable loneliness, which had been surrounding her throughout her life, but now she felt it more, because she had friends, but she couldn’t be with them. Mainly, she already missed Iris, who she genuinely liked. She had to deal with it, and so with a prideful step, she walked through the Hogwarts corridors to the Transfiguration classroom.

Cadence was a very skilled witch. If she could, she would have scored Hufflepuff twenty points already. She was happy with how well she was doing, though she couldn’t quite get the hang of runes. She hoped that with her natural talent for magic she might find some friends, but the Hufflepuffs kept back, gossiping behind her back. 

Cadence felt sad despite Bubo’s support, but still she was glad he was there with her. She felt the same as when she had been in school in Wales, where, just as here, there were all these rumours surrounding her. Here they were very different from the previous because the students knew who she was.  
‘She’s too smart’ ‘Obviously, the Silver Owl is helping her.’ ‘She’s _Fortune’s Child_.’

Cadence’s less favourite, though, was that they called her _the stealer of luck_ – some said that if they would talk to her, they’d lose their luck. In these moments, she kept thinking about the characteristics of her wand and kept repeating that she mustn’t tell anyone.

To her luck, the week at Hufflepuff was ending – it was Friday. Today first years were meant to have Potions, which Cadence was looking forward to the most out of the whole week. Ahead of the lesson, she studied for them, because she had no one to spend time with, except Gabriel, Michael, and Iris, but they were busy whenever she had free time. So often she visited the school library, which absolutely inspired her. She liked to draw: already, she had drawn the Gryffindor tower, and attempted to portrait Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw.

Friday morning, like every day, Cadence woke up like first and immediately headed to the bathroom, so that Bubo could help her style a beautiful braid. She wanted to look good on her first lesson of Potions, and secured the braid with a green ribbon that matched her eyes. This time, she didn’t meet with Iris at breakfast, but was looking forward to the next week when she would go to Ravenclaw, because she would have more opportunities to see her.

‘You look nice,’ Gabriel said and sat down next to Cadence, and the girl noticed that he was pink in the face. Gabriel said hello to Bubo like every morning, and turned his attention to his breakfast.

‘So two more days and you’re going to Ravenclaw,’ Cadence only nodded in agreement, sipping at her tea. Her eyes wandered to the teachers’ table, but Snape wasn’t sitting there. Possibly he was preparing the Potions lesson, which combined Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

‘Did you like it here?’ Cadence didn’t want to answer, but her cold demeanour took over: ‘It could have been better,’ and then guiltily left to table to lead down to the dungeons.

‘You’re nervous,’ Bubo said, whom she forgot at the table, and who thus flew over to her and landed on the girl’s shoulder.

‘I suppose, but it’s only three more days, I can manage that,’ Cadence smiled in front of the door to the classroom, where she’d probably be first. Slowly, other students began to appear and many, mainly Hufflepuffs, began gossiping about Cadence, just like every other day. Cadence pretended that she didn’t care and read from her Potions book.

When most students have appeared by the classroom, the door opened and everyone entered. Cadence stayed at the back, because there was no more space at the middle desks, and she didn’t want to go to the front, where everyone would see her. The doors closed with a bang, and the dark professor of Potions entered, his cape fluttering.

‘Just like to the year before you, I will tell you that I will not allow any mindless waving of the wands in the spaces of my classroom,’ Snape stood behind his table and stared at his class with his black eyes. No one dared to even sigh. It was so quiet in the class that a pin dropping on the floor could be heard.‘My name is Severus Snape, however you will obviously address me as Professor Snape. I hope that you will showcase more skill than the other dumbwitted years and that I will have some peace from exploding cauldrons this year. If you want to see what it looks like, ask Professor Longbottom. I believe he’d be capable of showing you a proper example outside the school grounds, hopefully several miles away.’ Cadence had to bite her lips to not laugh and was glad to be hidden at the back.

Snape looked around one more time at the frightened students with his piercing eyes, until his gaze stopped on Cadence.

‘Do you find something amusing, miss James?’ Cadence immediately put on her mask of absolute calmness and answered: ‘No, Professor.’

‘Then begin your preparations for a potion against headaches, which recipe you will find on page three. I expect that if your brain possesses the slightest bit of activity, you have read ahead and know what you should do.’ Cadence was the first to get into the preparation, while the other students were nervously reading the instructions.

‘Bubo, what exactly should I take?’ Cadence whispered to her companion when she was at the cupboard with ingredients.

‘Miss James, I would appreciate if in my lessons you would not use the aid of your Patronus,’ Cadence glanced the Potions Master, who was sitting by his table, correcting some tests. Cadence didn’t want to let her only support disappear, but Bubo gently poked her head and disappeared.

‘Well, I’ll be fine,’ she whispered to herself and continued to gather the ingredients.

Cadence continued precisely according to the instructions, and soon she had the potion of the exact colour, though it smelt a bit sweeter than it should. 

At the end of the lesson, Snape checked each cauldron and Cadence watched in shock as Ravenclaw lost almost thirty points in the span of an hour. Then he delved into the Hufflepuff ones and Cadence was left for last.

‘Miss James, how do you understand the concept of the colour indigo?’ Cadence looked at her potion in confusion.

‘But it is indigo colour, Professor,’ she told him confidently. Snape cocked his head to the side and raised one eyebrow.

‘I believe that the colour of your potion is dark blue, don’t you think so?’ But Cadence shook her head with unceasing confidence.

‘I know it’s indigo colour, sir. If you don’t believe me, I can show you my paints, which I have with me. Between them is indigo and it looks exactly like this.’ Cadence studied Cadence for a moment. He knew that the girl was right and so he stepped back and said: ‘If you belonged to Hufflepuff, I would give you ten points, but tough.’ Cadence could feel how several students glared at her.

‘Definitely a Slytherin girl,’ someone from Hufflepuff said in a whisper and Cadence looked down on the floor hurt. She didn’t have Bubo with her for support and felt too exposed.

‘Even her ribbon is in Slytherin colours, urgh – _robber of luck_ ,’ Cadence bit her lips.

‘I’m taking two points from Hufflepuff for every word, which is thirty points total.’ Cadence looked in hope at the professor, who was glaring at the students with his black gaze. ‘Anyone else? Mr Adams? Miss Richter?’ the mentioned Hufflepuffs went red and looked away. Then the bell rang and everyone hurried off. Cadence stayed last, she wanted to thank Snape and so, after packing up her things, went to him.

‘Thank you, professor,’ she thanked him, smiling lightly. Snape was pre-occupied with correcting essays.

‘There is nothing to thank, miss James. I have done it only so you choose Slytherin as your house.’ Cadence had to laugh, and Snape finally turned his full attention to her in confusion.

‘You’re the only professor who isn’t trying to force me into their house,’ Cadence smiled again and hurried off to lunch. She had completely surprised the Potions Master with her words.


	6. Ravenclaw

Cadence impatiently waited for the end of the week as she could finally move to Ravenclaw on Sunday. She felt like she had made enemies with everyone in Hufflepuff. Even now, they kept gossiping about her: a rumour spread throughout school about how she had a ribbon with Slytherin colours. There was even gossip about that she's actually from Slytherin, that she confused the Sorting Hat to not be sorted on purpose, and that she was part of the Potions Master's family, or that she was purposefully moving across Houses so Snape could take more points off. It meant that everyone watched her with a warried gaze and she was grateful to her owl companion.

On Sunday she rushed from Hufflepuff and when the doors (more accurately, the painting) opened, already the familiar girl from Ravenclaw was awaiting her arrival.

'Cadence!' she cheered and hurried to the petite girl to help with her things.

'Iris, you don't have to–' Cadence wanted to protest, but Iris overpowered her.

'Oh, shush, I can't let you carry such heavy bags to Ravenclaw tower, it's still far away, you'd tire quickly.' Cadence thus agreed to let Iris help. 'So? How were the last two days in Hufflepuff?' Iris asked and Cadence dropped her gaze to the stone ground and replied with a cold voice: 'You heard the rumours yourself.' But Iris giggled and her tuneful laughter bounced off the castle's walls.

'Do you think I'd believe something like that? We need to bond more, Cadence' her hazelnut eyes gazed into the green for a bit. 'Then you'll understand I bet on my experiences.' Cadence even managed a smile. It seemed like the right approach – don't listen to rumours, because they often don't even have a speck of truth. It was always better to judge on experience. Cadence knew from the past about gossip, and she knew that what people didn't understand they would be afraid of, or hate it, and that was that – some feared Cadence, some gossiped. No one was prepared to bully her, everyone thought she was cursed, but here... Cadence stopped. She wasn't sure if they'd bully her here, but she hid the thoughts away. She didn't want to think about this now and Bubo shivered from it on her shoulder. 'What is it?' Iris looked at Bubo and he hooted back, which Iris couldn't understand so she turned to the translator.

'Nothing, it's nothing.' Cadence didn't know if she could tell Iris about her thoughts and feelings and for insurance, she decided to lie. 'He's just tired,' Cadence said and Bubo hooted in an entertained tone: 'Liar.'

'I'm sure that you must be tired from keeping your Patronus near you at all times,' Iris mentioned when they reached the moving staircase.

'Not really, I've done it since I was little. There's nothing to it,' Cadence explained and noticed Iris' surprised expression.

'I only recently learned how to summon a Patronus and it's incredibly difficult and tiring, so I take my cap off to you.' Cadence was touched by the praise, but immediately resisted it.

'You don't have to, it's like... um, eating an apple for me,' Iris laughed at the simile and even Cadence smirked a bit.

'Sorry, anyone can make me laugh easily,' she said once she calmed down – they had just the door where, differing Hufflepuff, the door knocker was in the shape of a raven. Iris knocked and it was as if the raven came to life as he said: 'Will tomorrow come?' Cadence frowned at the question as Iris glanced at her.

'The knocker gives us questions we must answer. If he considers the answer clever enough, he'll let us through, and if not, we have to wait for someone to come and help. Try answering,' and nodded to the knocker. Cadence pondered for a bit while Bubo waited in anticipation for her answer, similarly to Iris and the knocker.

'Tomorrow doesn't exist, it becomes today.' The head of the raven nodded and the doors opened. Iris smiled at Cadence, who looked surprised.

'You really belong, at least partially, to Ravenclaw,' the brown-haired girl noted and let Cadence inside. The common room was much more spacious than Hufflepuff, and the ceiling was higher. Before she could examine the details, she noticed that there were plenty of people around – Ravenclaw students. Inside, she felt vulnerable, but her face was even icier than before. 'This is Cadence James, as I'm sure you now. She will be with us this week and I hope that she'll enjoy it more than in Hufflepuff! Not that I have anything against them, but you all know the gossip they've been spreading with Slytherin about Cadence. I know her and she's not the girl you've heard about.' Everyone gasped in surprise and Iris grinned secretively. 'She is a girl with a similar fate to _the Boy who Lived and Won_ , except that You-know-who had never tried to kill her and she doesn't have a scar in the shape of a lighting on her head. But in her own way, their fates are alike,' now Iris sounded incredibly serious and Cadence, like everyone else, were intently listening to every word.

Cadence wasn't sure exactly what this was about, but maybe Iris knew more than everyone else. She could talk to her and maybe mention the wand... Nonetheless she decided to confer with Bubo first, because he was an excellent helper with things like these.

'We'll try, princess,' Cadence looked in surprise at the boy from fourth year that said this. Others began to speak too, saying something along the same lines, always using the word _princess_.

Cadence was more confused than before. She looked to her Patronus to help, but he imitated shrugging his wings.

Immediately, a petite blonde with short hair approached Cadence, who was probably like her in first year and was spectacularly reminiscent of Celeste. It was to the extent that Cadence wondered whether it is her.

'Um, hi, I'm – I'm Renon Euno...' the girl blushed lightly and offered her hand, which Cadence shook.

'P- Pleased to meet you, Renon,' Cadence answered similarly shyly, having not expected to meet Celeste's sister in the common room here. Iris seemed greatly pleased by this, happy to see the girls getting along.

Several more people introduced themselves to Cadence and come midnight the Prefects sent them to bed. Renon helped Cadence carry her things to the first year bedroom, where she met with the six other inhabitants. Her bed was right next to Renon's and inside, she was happy that she had made friends after the unsuccessful week in Hufflepuff. For the first time in a week, she was wished a good night by someone other than Bubo, and felt normal and happy from it. Even so, she did the quietening spell around her bed so that she could talk about her experiences with Bubo.

'Iris is just incredible!' she stated about the Ravenclaw prefect and Bubo nodded. 'Do you know why they call her a princess?' she asked, drawing sparks in the air with her wand. Bubo had taught her that spell.

'I don't know, but you could possibly ask Renon,' Bubo answered and Cadence agreed.

'What did you think about Iris' speech? It felt like she knew more about me than me,' Bubo wandered around the bed and sat closer to Cadence.

'I cannot tell you any more, dear Cadence.' The girl sighed but she didn't try to persuade her owl friend. She knew it leads to nothing: the one time she tried, he disappeared for an entire day, which led her to conclude that arguments weren't worth it.

'I'm looking forward to seeing Michael and Professor Snape,' Cadence hid her wand under her pillow and turned to her Patronus.

'You like Michael, right?' Bubo asked and it looked like he was smiling. Cadence burrowed herself deeper into her blanket and then nodded.

'And Professor Snape is an amazing Potions Master! Not only that, I feel like he's a really great person, even if they don't say great things about him.' Yes, Snape was sarcastic and strict and Cadence had heard he puts his own house up on a pedestal, but still, disregarding all that, it seemed like Snape was a great teacher and an interesting person.

'You'll get to know him better,' Bubo pecked the sleepy girl on her forehead as a kiss. She most likely didn't hear his words but it didn't matter. Either she would remember them or Bubo would remind her... Or neither will be important.


	7. The Princess

The next morning came with another school day, the beginning of the week at a new house. This time Cadence didn't wake up before the other girls, but simultaneously with them. They wished one another a good morning in the friendly atmosphere, and Renon offered that they go together to the bathroom and for breakfast. In the bathroom, they met Iris, who was just coming out of a shower.

'Good morning, girls!' she told them and they replied similarly. Cadence was reminded about wanting to ask Renon why they called Iris a princess, but she didn't want to ask in front of Iris herself. It seemed quite rude, downright unsuitable.

After their morning routine, the girls marched onto breakfast, where everyone stared at Cadence and Renon. For a second, Renon pulled closer to Cadence, who noticed Celeste's gaze. Of course – Renon was Celeste's sister and she did not look very happy, more so frustrated. There was also the unstoppable whispering that would most likely follow Cadence until her final year. Either way, Cadence felt like she had a lot of time to get used to the gossip, rumours, and nicknames. It didn't seem too problematic.

The girls sat down at the Ravenclaw table and immediately, everyone started talking to them. They asked Cadence about how last week was, how well she slept in their house, what Hufflepuff looks like, which question she got from the raven, and then came the more personal question, to which Cadence calmly replied: 'I don't know yet which house I'll stay in, I don't want to discuss any private matters.' A few people tried to prise some answers from her but when they concluded that Cadence won't answer, they stopped. Even so they remained polite and with interest watched Bubo, who occasionally flew up in the air to stretch his wings.

'Shall we go to class together, Renon?' Cadence turned to the blonde girl, who ate quietly beside her the entire time, most likely unused to the amount of people. Her blue eyes rested on Cadence, full of surprise and quiet happiness. She nodded and smiled, radiating joy. Cadence was happy to boost someone's mood like this.

From her back, two arms grabbed and hugged her.

'Here's our little Cadence!' the voice belonged to Michael and as soon as Cadence realised this, she blushed. But she remained calm and reached for the water that Bubo pushed towards her.

'Michael, you shouldn't attack people like this in the morning,' his friend Gabriel reminded him. Cadence turned around to look at the boisterous Gryffindor and calmly smiling Hufflepuff. 'Good morning, Cadence,' Gabriel said, and Michael followed.

'How was your first night?' Michael asked and stole a fresh red apple from the Ravenclaw table.

'Good, I found a friend – this is Renon Euno,' she pointed to the blonde girl beside her, who shyly turned around, her cheeks blushing and her blue eyes gazing somewhere down on the ground before she managed to look up at the two boys.

'H- Hi...' she said and Cadence smiled to herself. Renon was so incredibly cute, nothing like her sister Celeste. Even though she didn't know her well yet, she could already feel, or perhaps from her intuition sense, that they'll be great friends.

'Meeting new faces?' Iris' resonant laughter sounded and they all looked in her direction.

'You can say that,' Gabriel nodded and grinned widely. Cadence watched their conversation, and even Renon joined in which brought a smile to her face. Bubo was excited too when he swiped his feathers on his owner's cheek.

It was time to go to class and so Renon and Cadence hurried and on their way, several more Ravenclaw first years joined them, all of whom began talking to the girls.

Their first lesson was magical spell with Professor Flitwick, who was the Head of Ravenclaw House. Cadence thought him cute with his short height, but he was a very talented wizard. In this lesson, they were taught the spell Wingardium Leviosa, which no one could quite manage. Cadence took three tries to get it right and Bubo watched excitedly the feather float around. Renon who was sitting beside Cadence, couldn't manage the spell at all and it looked like she would begin to cry. Out of pity, Cadence showed her how to flick her wrist and pronounce the spell. Immediately, Renon seemed determined to try and on the second attempt, she managed.

'I- I managed! Thank you, Cadence!' she exclaimed almost across the whole class, so everyone's attention turned to them. Renon quietened down and blushed: 'Sorry,' she whispered in Cadence's direction, who smiled lightly to show everything is fine.

The lesson ended, another began, and so on and on, until the classes ended for the day. Exhausted, the girls went to Ravenclaw common room and Cadence heard a few whispers of how she's either _the Fortune's Child_ or _Fortune's robber_. Everyone had their own opinion on her and Cadence just had to learn how to deal with it, as she had until now.

Cadence hoped that in the calmness of the common room she and Renon would do their homework, but as soon as they entered Ravenclaw territory, several people approached them.

'Cadence, could you help me with this spell?' – 'Cadence, could you help with runes?' – 'Cadence, I can't transform this glass into a mouse.'

The girl was confused and tried to hide behind Renon, who from the loudness was even more disoriented than Cadence. Neither of them were used to this amount of noise and not just that – how was Cadence supposed to how, what runes third years study? And even – change a glass into a mouse? That was nearly impossible for a first year.

'Hey, hey, hey!' All this insanity was stopped when the Ravenclaw prefect appeared, whom both the girls were eternally grateful for.

'Iris!' Cadence sighed out of relief, but someone from the crowd said: 'How dare you call the princess by her name?!' and several people gasped in shock, even when Iris silenced everyone with a wave of a hand.

'She doesn't know about it, don't dare accuse her of anything,' Iris spoke with a cold calmness and helped Cadence and Renon from the crowd.

'What's going on? Why did you rush to them like that?' Iris required answers as she protectively stepped in front of the girls while Cadence held onto the edge of her robe. But no one wanted to answer. They looked a bit guilty. Iris sighed at their behaviour and managed a smile. 'All right, we won't bother with this. Let the girls do their homework in peace, yeah?' Everyone agreed in mumbles and they walked off around the common area, some leaving to their bedrooms. Iris turned to the girls and petted Bubo. 'So what happened?' she asked calmly. Cadence was about to answer but Renon beat her to it: 'They wanted Cadence to help them with magic.' Iris raised her eyebrows in surprise.

'Everyone?' Renon and Cadence nodded. Iris pondered for a bit before massaging her temple and with a smile sent the two girls to study and complete their homework. During the assignments, Renon and Cadence forgot about the incident that occurred in the common room and after, when they sleepily burrowed in the cushioned sofas, Cadence finally asked what had been on her mind for a while: 'Why does everyone call Iris a princess?' The blonde smiled and burrowed herself deeper into her robe, which she was using instead of a blanket.

'Iris is the descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw. Well, her sister's. It's said that Rowena had a sister who was a squib, but her son was a wizard. There's proof of this from Iris' surname – Rowen – based on Rowena Ravenclaw. Everyone calls her princess because she's going to be the next headmistress, or rather, the future headmistress of this school.'

'Wait, I thought that the next headmistress will be the next in charge,' Cadence wondered as she didn't understand the system. Renon only shrugged her shoulders.

'I don't really get it either. I'm from a muggle family, so everything's so new and I don't understand much.' Renon was muggle-born, just like Cadence... But that would mean that even Celeste is muggle-born. Cadence felt surprised by this realisation. She thought that for Celeste to get to Slytherin, she'd be pureblood.

Before the girls finished talking, they noticed that it was past eleven, and moved to their bed. After Cadence said good night to all the girls and Renon, she cast the quietening spell around her bed and turned to Bubo.

'I didn't expect Iris to be a descendent of Rowena, and the future headmistress!' Bubo fluttered his wings and agreed.

'It's clear she is a powerful witch,' he noted and Cadence cast the sparks again with her wand.

'I like her, she reminds me of someone but I don't know who,' Cadence frowned by how intensely she tried to think, but nothing came to her, so she gave up and hid the wand underneath her pillow.

After musing over today's events with Bubo, she purposefully avoided the topic of what happened in the common room earlier. She didn't want to discuss it. She wished good night to Bubo and the girl sleepily closed her eyes.

In the middle of the night, Cadence woke up, breathless. Cold sweat poured down her face and she tried to gasp for air. Nightmares were normal for her, but this was different, this was terrifying.

Cadence sat up and pulled the wand from underneath her pillow. She wanted to summon Bubo, but then she realised that he can't be with her twenty four seven. Well, he could be, but Cadence knew who her Patronus was and she didn't want to tire him.

She pulled her legs out of bed and pulled on shoes on her bare feet, so she could escape the first year girl bedroom and get comfortable in the quiet common room, where a fireplace merrily crackled, but even that couldn't calm the little girl. In Ravenclaw tower, there were several alcoves for students to sit, if they wanted to be alone or with their partners. There was no one there now and so Cadence sat down into one of them and pulled her knees under her chin.

She delved into her thoughts about what the dream could mean and was more and more concerned, but a familiar voice interrupted her: 'Why aren't you asleep?' she looked at the brown-haired girl who was watching her in worry, wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown. Cadence wasn't sure whether she should tell her but she was so terrified and tired from the nightmare that she did.

'I had a nightmare,' she said and hid her face into her knees. Iris sat down next to her and gave her a motherly hug.

'My dear, what did you dream of?' she asked gently and Cadence lifted her face.

'It was... an odd dream, the worst yet. I've never dreamed of anything like that before...' she paused, swallowed, and continued: 'I was there, and... I looked... like an evil witch... There was a storm, darkness... everywhere there were crows and even on my shoulder, instead of Bubo, there are a black crow that looked like a Dementor and... and everyone...' tears began to roll down her cheeks so she hid face again. 'And everyone was dead!' This time she couldn't defend herself against more tears and let them fall. She cried and cried while Iris worriedly hugged her and calmed her in her embrace.

'It was a bad dream, nothing more...' Iris wiped the last tears from Cadence's face and smiled at her encouragingly. 'Would you like some hot chocolate?' she asked and Cadence looked at her in surprise.

'You can create hot chocolate with magic?' Iris laughed.

'No, but the elves can bring us some.' Iris looked into the empty space beside her and while smiling, she snapped her fingers and called someone's name. Immediately, an elf in a tease from a teapot, washed and clean, appeared and bowed so deep that her long ears fell to the ground. Then she looked at them with her enormous eyes coloured indigo. Cadence was reminded of Professor Snape and the first Potions lesson. She was already looking for to more.

'Iris Rowan wishes for something?' the elf asked in a high-pitched voice.

'Please bring us two cups of hot chocolate,' Iris requested and the elf bowed down again before disappearing with a bang. Not even a minute later did before them appear a tray with two mugs of hot chocolate and biscuits.

'Do the elves cook for us?' Cadence asked Iris as she grabbed her mug.

'Yes, and not just that – they clean and keep the castle running. They also helped greatly in the battle against You-know-who,' Iris said and bit a piece of the biscuit. Cadence remembered her wand, which she subconsciously took out and examined. Simultaneously, she wondered whether she should tell Iris. In the end, she decided to keep it to herself for now.

'Do you know some spells by now?' Iris asked as she watched the girl play with the wand. Cadence mumbled the incantation and from the end of the wand appeared silver sparks. Iris gasped for air by her side and Cadence turned to her with questions in her eyes. 'Where do you know this spell from?' she asked, sounding shocked.

'From Bubo,' Cadence answered calmly, her eyes shifting from Iris to the wand and back again. 'Why do you ask?' Iris continued to stare at the sparks coming from the end of the wand before she swallowed and tried to calm down.

' _Postremum spes_ , am I right?' Cadence nodded. 'Do you know what it means?' Cadence shook her head this time and Iris sat up with the mug in her hand. 'It means _final hope_. This spell is used when the witch or wizard is in ultimate danger and needs someone's help. This is a weaker variation.' Cadence gazed at the sparks. Why did Bubo teach her this spell? 'But just the fact that you can do it proves you are a powerful witch, Cadence,' and for this evening, the girl felt good. She had a similar wand to _the Boy who Lived and Won_ and is a powerful witch. Who wouldn't be happy?


	8. The Ribbon

The week in Ravenclaw passed by calmer than the one in Hufflepuff. Even Cadence didn’t feel like leaving – she was friends with Renon, Iris acted like a motherly figure to her, and even the other Ravenclaws were sweet to her. Though Cadence had the suspicion that there was a particular reason for their behaviour.

‘They’re sweet to me because they believe I’ll bring them luck,’ she told her thoughts to Iris one night at the alter where they often met to talk.

Iris grew into Cadence’s heart across the time and she knew that she can trust her and tell her practically anything. Despite her age Iris was very wise even if un-oriented in some things. Nevertheless, Cadence had someone she could tell anything to, apart from Bubo.

‘It’s possible but I’d argue that they do it on a subconscious level. I’m not saying that some aren’t doing it on purpose, but we in Ravenclaw also seek new wisdom and want to grow wiser with fortune, if that’ll help.’ Cadence glanced at her, not sure.

‘So even you want to use luck of _Fortune’s Child_?’ It wasn’t a shocked question, more so just curiosity and Cadence was glad Iris correctly interpreted it. She hugged the little girl and laughed into her black hair.

‘I’d be a liar if I said no, but more than that, you interest me the same way any other interesting witch or wizard would. Because of you and your Patronus I am now where I am.’ Cadence smiled at the praise. She liked it when people praised her this way, and though she heard the gossip and rumours here, she also heard so many praises she had never heard her entire life.

The week torturously was heading towards the end, but from the positive side – it was almost Friday and with it, another Potions lesson. Cadence again learnt a new potion and inspired Renon to do so too with the words: ‘Remember how last time he told everyone off for not looking in the exercise books.’ Renon only nodded and stuck her head into the hardcover.

Cadence had noticed that Renon was one of the few that never tried to get luck from her, on the other hand – after the incident at the Spells lesson, she tried to be more independent and rarely asked her friend for help. She did not try to be smarter than her, just keep the same pace. Cadence’s favourite fact about Renon was that she likes to draw and occasionally paint. The girls spent their free time by showing one another’s artworks, and they praised endlessly the other one. All in all, they had a lot in common.

Cadence and Renon reached the cellar, which was filled with whispers from Hufflepuffs, but Renon distracted with a funny joke that made them both giggle. Only with Renon and Iris could Cadence laugh, though she was sure that she could even with for example Professor Snape. Until now all of his snarky remarks had made her laugh, which he probably didn’t mind, because every time in his time (if she had looked in them in the moment) she saw a gleam of something, but it wasn’t bad.

Renon was scared of Snape, but Cadence’s presence calmed her down, so she didn’t feel nervous or afraid. Cadence was glad to have an influence like this on her friend.

‘You’ll see,’ Cadence told her little friend in front of the entrance, ‘just don’t mistake the claw of dendrocopos with the claw of crepituser and everything will be fine. Just follow the instructions in the book.’

‘I’d rather first check out how the mushroom acanthophiscus looks, since most students mistake it with the ashen mushroom,’ behind the girls they heard the cold baritone of the Potions Master. The girls immediately turned around – everyone was staring, including the black eyes. Cadence realised too late that they were standing in front of the door, but she decided to talk: ‘In the preparation of the potion against stomach ache you use the ashen mushroom, sir. The acanthophiscus mushroom cannot be used because it’s poisonous.’ Snape lightly nodded.

‘Except the fact that if you had read more about the mushroom acanthophiscus, you would have found that it can be a great asset in some potions, where its poison is neutralised by other ingredients.’ Cadence watched him, not knowing what to say or do. She felt how the girl next to her is nervous and thought it was pointless to debate about this mushroom any further. ‘Would you like to do as a favour and move outside the door frame so I may begin my lesson?’ he raised one eyebrow and Cadence reacted to pull Renon aside and enter the classroom last. Most of the students, well, Hufflepuffs, laughed as they walked past, the Ravenclaws just awkwardly shuffled past them. Cadence, despite herself, hid behind her cold gaze and began preparing ingredients together with Renon while everyone else buried their heads in the book.

Even before the classroom, she had made Bubo disappear and now she missed him a lot, even though Renon was here. Cadence felt frustrated with herself by the fact that she wasn’t good enough and had to learn more, and vowed to do exactly that for the next lesson.

Cadence finished the potion first and spent the rest of the lesson helping Renon with hushed whispers and reading from the exercise book. She did not look at the professor once and not because she was angry at him. She was a lot angry at herself, she felt like she had failed not just herself but also him which was very uncomfortable.

The lesson ended with Ravenclaw losing twenty points and Hufflepuff almost forty. When the Hufflepuffs were leaving, they nervously kept glancing at Cadence, who wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention because she was wallowing in self-pity about her failure. She let Renon go ahead but finally she was about to leave the classroom when Snape said: ‘Miss James,’ Cadence turned around and realised that her hair was loose. She lost her Slytherin-coloured ribbon. But then she noticed that Snape held it in his pale thin hand, gazing at it in interest. Cadence watched as the professor played with the ribbon in his fingers before returning it to her. ‘Next time you should put a spell on it so it won’t come loose,’ he handed the ribbon to the girl, who was trying to look elsewhere. ‘It would be problematic if it falls into a potion. Ask miss Rowen for a spell, she will definitely help you.’ Cadence nodded and planned to quietly turn around and leave. Wallowing in self-criticism and failure, she felt like the white lady of some forsaken castle. ‘Miss James.’ Cadence stopped in front of the door and indirectly looked at the professor.

‘For the next lesson, I would like a report on how the acanthophiscus mushroom can be utilised.’ But Cadence heard something completely different behind those words. She heard that she is normal and completely natural, that she didn’t know something and can find out for next time. She heard all this and it made her happier. Yes, she had extra homework, but it didn’t burden her, because she strived towards knowledge, mainly about anything concerning the magical world.

This time Cadence nodded with more enthusiasm and with the ribbon in her hand, having wished him a good rest of the day, she left the potions classroom. The rest of the day passed in peace and Cadence, once she lay down in bed, realised that there’s only two days left before the next house – Gryffindor. She was excited to be able to talk to Michael normally and maybe learn something new, but had feelings of worry that it would end up very much like Hufflepuff.

That night, after wishing Bubo a good night, she snuck out of the bedroom to go to the alter.

‘You’re not sleeping again,’ Iris noted, trying to sound stern rather than happy. Cadence smiled at her and let her join.

‘I wanted to talk to you,’ Cadence said honestly, while she let a stream of sparks fly from her wand. Iris sat down next to her and with her arm hugged her shoulder.

‘Do tell, _Fortune_.’ The girl laughed and let the sparks disappear before she leaned against of the shoulder of heir of Hogwarts.

‘I’m worried it’ll be the same in Gryffindor that it was in Hufflepuff,’ she let her worries out and pulled her knees under her chin. Iris pulled her closer in a motherly gesture.

‘Oh honey, you don’t have to worry. You know our Michael and he isn’t in Gryffindor for nothing. Most students there are like that – they’re loyal and brave. You have nothing to worry about,’ Iris calmed the little Cadence, though she still worried. But hopefully she’ll manage, like Iris said.

While thinking, Cadence was playing with her wand, before it slipped out of her hands and Iris leaned to reach for it. In this moment, Cadence realised who has a similar wand and wondered whether she could tell her companion. Because – Iris was sweet and took care of her from practically the first day.

‘Iris?’ she asked shyly.

‘Yes?’ Iris offered.

‘I’ve never told anyone but this,’ she raised the wand so that Iris could study it more carefully. ‘This wand is from holly wood, 11 inches long with the core of a feather from a Phoenix,’ the little girl swallowed and in a half-tone added: ‘Harry Potter’s wand is almost identical.’ She found it strange how difficult this was to say.

Iris gasped and touched the smooth wood of the magical wand.

‘H- Harry also had… 11 inches long, from what I know but… h- how? From what Phoenix is the feather?’ she asked in shock.

‘Mr Ollivander told me that this wand was created by his great-grandfather… that the feather is from a mythical Phoenix,’ Cadence answered the question quietly and felt her heart up in her throat.

‘Cadence, I think that you need to talk to someone who knows Harry Potter,’ Iris said seriously and with her hazel eyes looked into the green. ‘You’re in luck that the head of Gryffindor house is one of his friends,’ a light smile appeared on her lips.

Suddenly, Cadence felt no longer afraid of Gryffindor. She now had two reasons to look forward to next week.


	9. Gryffindor

Sunday arrived and with it the move to Gryffindor house, where Cadence was determined to learn more information about _the Boy who Lived and Won_. But she was also forced to leave the environment she had gotten so used to across the week. She had to leave Renon and Iris, with whom she found so much support.

When the Gryffindor prefect was waiting for her, Renon, Iris, and a few other people came to say goodbye for now and wish her lots of luck. This house grew into her heart despite the fact that most in the depths of their soul wished for fortune, which she could have given then. Even so, she didn’t know what to expect from Gryffindor and hoped it wouldn’t be like Hufflepuff. She still had Iris’ words in her mind and in moments where she was worried that it’d be awful, she focused on those memories.

While she walked with the prefect to the next tower, somewhat smaller than the Ravenclaw one, she exchanged a few words with the young man. She talked coldly and practically one-syllable which seemed to confuse him, but he just didn’t know young Cadence too well – she masked her nervous feelings this way. Only Bubo could interpret this behaviour correctly and supported her with a small peck on the cheek.

They stood in front of the portrait of the Fat Lady, who asked for a password as she kept glancing at the black-haired Cadence with Bubo on her shoulder.

‘Toadstool,’ the password was and the prefect turned to Cadence when the portrait moved aside and the Gryffindors looked at the girl who was trying to hide her awkwardness by a stone-cold expression. The first to rush to her and welcome her with a broad hug so that Cadence blushed, was the young Gryffindor Michael.

‘You’re finally with us!’ he said happily instead of a hello and several Gryffindors approached her. Some stood on the sides and watched the girl with thoughtful, unsure gazes, while others hurried to her so that they could introduce themselves. Cadence almost wished for the quiet hidden alter in the Ravenclaw common room, but was currently forced to face reality.

The students were interrupted only by the young prefect that had brought Cadence here, so that they would head towards their bedrooms, and so a few first-year girls took hold of Cadence to show her the girls’ bedroom in the shape of a circled room, in which her bed was already prepared.

The rest of the evening, the girls spent talking and tried constantly to bring Cadence into their conversation, who was for now focusing on finishing her homework, and only sometimes nodded or answered. In her mind, she prayed to God and Merlin so that the girls wouldn’t drag her into the conversation. She even contemplated whether it wasn’t better to be ignored by Hufflepuffs than be forced into talking. Mostly, it was missing the quiet conversations with Renon or Iris, which she often led during the night, grateful for having a loyal friend by her side.

When she was done with the homework for the day, she hurriedly wished the girls a good night, closed the curtains around her bed, mumbled the quietening spell and finally could talk with Bubo.

‘Finally, there’s some quiet,’ she sighed and let her head fall into the airy pillow. Bubo settled down at the bed of his owner.

‘This much attention tires you, doesn’t it?’ he said with a hint of fun and Cadence nodded in all seriousness.

‘I’m happy that they’re all sweet but it’s a bit too much,’ she noted and turned to her side so she could regard her bird friend better. ‘But I’m glad that this week I’m in the same house as Michael,’ she added with her cheeks turning a pale pink as she remembered the warm welcome embrace. ‘And it’ll be great that we’ll have Potions already on Wednesday!’ she found another reason for joy. ‘But we’ll be with Slytherin and Celeste will be there – that’s the only thing I don’t like,’ she puffed up her cheeks and Bubo calmed her down with petting her hair.

‘But that doesn’t matter, right? The important thing is that you’ll see your favourite teacher,’ and Cadence nodded.

‘I mustn’t forget the homework,’ she remembered.

‘For Merlin’s sake, you already have more than one parchment.’ If he could, Bubo would most likely roll his eyes, but even so Cadence was entertained by how his eyelids drooped in a sign of boredom.

‘I want to please the professor in some way,’ she argued in favour of her behaviour. Immediately, Bubo seemed serious, as if she had reached something about which he thought for a long time.

‘Cadence, do not forget that you’re doing it mainly for yourself and not for praise,’ he told her and this time Cadence rolled her eyes.

‘Yeah, sure, I know that.’ But it was obvious to Bubo she didn’t take his words seriously.

The girls soon fell asleep and with it, her silver Patronus disappeared, reappearing only in the morning when Cadence woke up. She found out that the other girls have woken up too, and despite the fact that she wanted to go to the bathroom alone, they went with her. 

At breakfast, Cadence searched for her friends who all sat at different tables. She noticed an eating Renon that waved at her and Cadence waved back, after a while she also spotted Iris, who was almost invisible over the magical newspaper Daily Prophet that she was reading. She still hadn’t seen Gabriel and Michael – they always arrived later. At the professors’ table, she saw professor Snape and smiled to say hi, to which he only nodded back.

Cadence hoped that she would eat in silence, but that didn’t work out as everyone kept trying to bring her into the conversation.

‘My God, I’m sure I’ll lose my nerves and scream at everyone,’ she whispered to her owl companion who produced a noise similar to laughter.

Cadence was calming her down with the idea that it couldn’t get worse, but when Michael arrived, it was as if the table got even louder. The boy sat down next to her and after wishing her a good morning, he followed with multiple questions like how she slept at the new place, how does she feel about Gryffindor so far, and then he began talking with practically everyone, which made the table laugh so hard they couldn’t breathe. Cadence found only a few things entertaining, but was mostly focusing on the gentle beautiful face of the young Gryffindor and his light green eyes.

Like this, she almost forgot that lessons will start soon and she still wanted to say hi to Renon, which she just about managed. They exchanged a few words before they had to rush to the other sides of the castle to different classrooms. Cadence was prepared to exchange all those conversations in the girls’ bedroom with an eternal talk with Renon, but now she had to focus on the first lesson – broom flying.

So far they only had two theoretical lessons, where Cadence felt like flying is boring and uninteresting, but Iris had talked of it completely different, since she wanted to get the position of the Beater in Quidditch. She also explained how Quidditch worked, because she didn’t understand it much from Professor Hooch. So she was quite excited about the lesson, specifically the practical portion.

‘Flying on a broom is not like normal sitting,’ Professor Hooch walked past them all and watched the students with piercing eyes. ‘It is about coordination, strength, endurance. Apart from these, nothing holds you in the air.’ She paused at the last two rows and turned on the heel of her boots.

‘Today, we will remind ourselves of the basic technique of flying,’ she looked at one student then another, her eyes stopping at Cadence. It was unusual to see her without Bubo on her shoulder, who was currently flying in the air above them.

‘Now, step beside your brooms and order them to rise,’ and thus the students did. Cadence was hesitant to order the broom in a calm and clear voice to rise, but when she did it politely went into her hand. No one (thankfully) noticed. Cadence didn’t want to attract more attention than was necessary. She saw in the corner of her eye how Celeste was struggling with her broom. She was acting too harshly towards it, while the broom needed calmness and a polite request. 

‘Excellent. Now sit down on your broom and one by one fly after me,’ Professor Hooch ordered when everyone held their brooms. One by one, they formed a line and slowly began to rise. The professor watched them from her broom, making sure no one would get hurt.

‘Cadence?’ behind the girl a familiar voice said, and without looking, she answered: ‘Hmm?’ By her side appeared Celeste, desperately holding onto her broom. On the other hand, Cadence was sitting quite comfortably and naturally. Somehow she knew exactly how to sit and when and where to lean and with how much strength to order the broom.

‘I heard that you’re Professor Snape’s pet.’ For a second, Cadence stiffed up, but actually – why should she?

‘And?’ she asked in full calmness, looking forward.

‘Ha-ha, well, believe me, once you’ll be in Slytherin, there’s no way you’ll be his favourite,’ Celeste lightly pushed into her, but it was enough for Cadence to look her way and crash into a Quidditch hoop. The dull force hit her right into her skull and in a sweet unconsciousness, she fell down to the ground.

After a few minutes, she woke up, all the students looking over her together with Professor Hooch. Her head unbelievably hurt, and without a doubt, she would have a massive bruise. Hopefully that’d be all.

‘I’m okay,’ she mumbled immediately and tried to stand. Her forearm hurt uncomfortably, but Cadence hid the pain by bowing her head down.

‘I need to take you to infirmary,’ Professor Hooch announced and tried to help her, when Cadence pulled away and with her gaze found Celeste, who was giggling, fully entertained, with a couple of other friends. She did not want to do them the favour of going to the infirmary.

‘No, really, I’m fine, it wasn’t high up.’ Her forearm was painfully throbbing and her head almost exploding, as if it should break in half any second. However, Cadence stood up and masked her pain with an expressionless face.

Professor Hooch scanned her doubtfully for a few seconds before she said: ‘All right then, but if you experience any pain, go to the infirmary immediately.’ Cadence nodded and slowly, the crowd dispersed.

‘Well, Cadence, I’m surprised that nothing happened to you,’ Celeste said and reached to poke Cadence into the bruise on her forehead. But she used her height and caught the smaller girl by the wrist.

‘You’ll be late for the history lesson,’ she told her calmly and noticed how Celeste’s blue eyes widened with surprise, because she scoffed and disappeared with her friends. Cadence stayed alone on the field and fell on her knees, so that she could give freedom to tears of pain. Her head hurt with no break, so much the world began to spin around and she could barely move her arm.

‘Cadence! You should go to the infirmary. You can’t study in this state!’ Bubo flew down to the girl and worriedly jumped around the girl who was wiping away her tears. 

‘I- I won’t give her the pleasure, at least not now, and also, fifth lesson is Herbology with Professor Longbottom and I need to talk to him,’ she argued but Bubo shook his head in disagreement. 

‘Cadence, you have a concussion and a broken forearm! You have to go to the infirmary!’ Bubo repeated but Cadence shook her head again.

‘Please, Bubo, at least wait until after Herbology, then I’ll go,’ Cadence tried to smile. She could barely see Bubo. He watched her worriedly before he looked somewhere behind Cadence and nodded. He sat down on his owner’s other shoulder, where he rarely sat – he didn’t want to worsen the girl’s broken arm.

Until Herbology, Cadence barely managed to get through her classes. She tried to act normally, but her sight kept losing focus, and several times, her head felt ready to break. She hid her broken arm in the long sleeve of the robe and didn’t dare look at its state. She was worried that someone would notice the wound. She was sure that by this point, it’ll be fully purple-red and swollen. Finally, it was time for Herbology, shared with Hufflepuff, and now it was easy to ignore them – she was trying her best to stay awake as the Professor began his lesson.

‘… you can recognise by the white hairs on the tips and… Cadence, are you all right?’ Cadence forced herself through the pain to look at Professor Longbottom and nod. ‘You’re completely pale,’ he said and walked over to the girl, grabbing her by the broken arm. Cadence loudly yelped with pain, the Professor jumped away anxiously, and Cadence fell to the ground. But someone’s hands caught her, and as her eyes closed, she saw someone’s black eyes.


	10. Help

It took about an hour before Cadence woke up and realised that she had ended up in the infirmary. She tried to sigh but her head throbbed and immediately, an older-looking magic nurse appeared, called Poppy Pomfrey – or Madame Pomfrey for students.

‘She’s awake,’ she told someone who was sitting beside her bed. When she turned her head, she almost began crying tears of happiness. On one side of her bed sat Gabriel and Michael, on her other Renon and Iris. In front of the bed, next to Madame Pomfrey, stood Professor Snape and Professor Longbottom, who evidently was worrying about the student that had fainted in his class just an hour ago.

Madame Pomfrey stepped next to the girl to wave her wand in patterns while she performed an unknown spell, before she said: ‘After the potion to grow her bones, her hand is almost back to normal, same as her head.’

‘My head hurts,’ Cadence mumbled a bit sleepily, but Madame Pomfrey only smiled gently.

‘That means you’re getting better and you’ll be up and running soon.’ Cadence smiled at her words, but soon it disappeared from her lips. Now she had to say what happened.

She searched for her owl companion, whom was sitting on Snape’s shoulder, which surprised her. When Bubo noticed how the girl was looking at him, he flew across to her, on his tiny legs jumped a few steps closer and cuddled up to her cheek. The gesture was so familiar, calming and freeing. Despite everything, Cadence missed it.

‘Professor Snape helped you when you fainted,’ Bubo hooted and Cadence remembered the black eyes of the Potions Master. She glanced at the man, dressed in black, who stood in front of her bed.

‘Thank you, sir,’ she said and smiled, trying to show her gratitude even with such an ordinary gesture. Snape only nodded and she was glad to see he wasn’t leaving. She felt calmer that he was here.

A girl’s hand grabbed her left palm carefully and Cadence looked at Iris and Renon, who was looking at her almost with tears spilling out of her eyes.  
‘Thank Merlin that you’re okay,’ Renon whispered and wiped the tears that began to overflow with the sleeve of her robe.

‘Don’t worry, it’s fine,’ Cadence was calming her down, clearly enjoying the attention she was getting from her worrying friends. It was a pleasant change, after all – for so long no one took care of her, not even her friends, and now she had friends surrounding her all around.

‘Miss James, I do believe you need to tell us what happened,’ the cold baritone of the Potions Master said and everyone looked at him for a second before turning back to Cadence. She turned her attention to Bubo, neutrally petting him on his head, and tried to figure out what to tell them.

‘It was a girl from Slytherin, the one that looks like Renon!’ Michael said and Cadence saw how angry he appeared. In a way, she was happy that someone spoke instead of her but… She didn’t want it to end this way – that they’ll punish Celeste. She’ll continue bullying her anyway.

‘That’s my sister – Celeste,’ Renon whispered and it was visible, even hearable, how she struggled even saying her name. No one could bother with more questions as the Potions Master spoke again: ‘I will deal with Miss Euno personally. Now, I would like to talk with Miss James in private.’ Michael grumbled but got up. Gabriel lightly petted Cadence on her healthy hand and smiled for support. Renon did the same as she wiped the last of her tears from her cheeks. Iris smiled and patted Snape on his shoulder, a gesture that took Cadence fully by surprise. Even Madame Pomfrey made herself scarce, but when Professor Longbottom was about to leave, Snape stopped him.  
‘I’d like you, Neville, to stay,’ in his voice was so much cold it could make water turn to ice. It was visible how the younger professor tensed up and swallowed, as if he had returned to his student years, full of fear of his old Potions teacher.

Cadence understood, what Snape was doing – he was giving her a chance to talk with Professor Longbottom, who knew Harry Potter personally. But how did he know? She only talked about it with Iris… who had evidently also decided to help.

She didn’t want to mention her wand. It was enough that Iris and Professor Snape knew. Even Renon didn’t know yet: she didn’t trust her quite that much.

‘Miss James is currently dealing with a certain issue and needs the help of Mr Potter,’ Snape started the topic and Cadence felt immense gratitude for it. She joined in.

‘I have questions that I think only he could answer,’ she said and shrugged her shoulders to show that it was all she wanted to say. Professor Longbottom seemed to forgot how tense he was for a moment and immediately looked like a grown man. Cadence remembered that Bubo once told her about the friends of _the Boy who Lived_ and knew very well that the Herbology teacher was one of the people that resisted the cruel regime and fought for Harry Potter until the end, even though the headmaster at the time was a Death Eater (actually, Professor Snape, in disguise from Voldermort). So from her start in school she had respect towards certain professors, though she also always had respect towards people that were older than her.

‘I could send him an owl and explain what you want,’ he said and looked at both Cadence and Professor Snape, as if to show that he would include them both.

‘I’d be really grateful, professor.’ The seriousness disappeared from the younger professor’s face and he looked several years younger. He smiled gently and said: ‘I’ll be glad to help. Now if you excuse me, I have to leave,’ he said goodbye to Cadence and Professor Snape and departed. The two were alone in the large infirmary.  
‘How did you know I wanted to speak to Professor Longbottom?’ Cadence asked her favourite teacher, who sat down on a chair by her bed. She felt calmer seeing him sit down, it meant that he would stay longer.

‘Miss Rowen informed me about what happened in the Ravenclaw common room.’ Cadence grew nervous but Bubo calmed her down with a soft peck on the cheek.

‘She didn’t tell him everything, don’t worry,’ he hooted soothingly.

‘Even so – why did she tell him without my permission?’ Cadence asked with an edge to her voice. Not that she didn’t trust the Potions Master, but there were certain things she wanted to keep to herself.

‘Miss Rowen is a very wise girl for her age and can see several steps ahead, so she confided in me.’ Iris was definitely very wise for her age, Cadence could admit that, but that Snape was praising her built a wave of anger and sadness deep inside her, and so she only watched Bubo, petting him on his little head.

‘Because of her, he went to the field and saw what happened. He wanted to help, Cadence, but you didn’t even accept my help so I warned him to not do anything,’ Bubo explained on with his hooting, Snape observing them both with mild interest.

‘Iris and Professor Snape only want to help. My power isn’t strong enough to do it instead of people   
and you know very well that–’

‘Even bad things happen for a good reason,’ Cadence finished for him and smiled. Because of Bubo, she felt more comforted and after all – her owl friend was right.

‘Very well said,’ Snape commented and Cadence noticed how he grimaced. It was one of the things she liked about him.


End file.
